Rome Film Fest's 'Cinema al MAXXI' Initiative Back for Encore Edition

"Inside Llewyn Davis," "12 Years a Slave" and "The Grand Budapest Hotel" are all on tap in the program for the main Extra section.

ROME – The Rome Film Festival’s Cinema al MAXXI initiative is back for its sophomore edition, getting under way next week with an eclectic slate of important international films, classics, and family fare.

The first edition of the Cinema al MAXXI program took place last year in the lead up to the 8th edition of the Rome Film Festival, which got underway in November. In 2014, the 9th edition of the Italian capital’s biggest film event will take place in October, but Cinema al MAXXI will move up even farther, getting underway Feb. 5 and running for two full months.

The section for international films, tabbed the “Extra” section, will open with Joel and Ethan Coen’s Inside Llewyn Davis in its non-festival Italian premiere (the film screened at the Turin Film Festival late last year), with Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave, Spike Jonze’s Her, and The Grand Budapest Hotel from Wes Anderson also scheduled to screen in the Wednesday-only Extra program.

Felice chi e’ diverso from Gianni Amelio, scheduled to screen for the first time at the upcoming Berlin Film Festival, is the most high-profile Italian production on the Extra schedule.

The Saturdays-only “Classic” section will include Ingmar Bergman’s Summer with Monika, Marco Bellocchio’s Devil in the Flesh, and The Damned from Luchino Visconti. The “Family” section, meanwhile, will screen on Sundays and will get underway with The Painting from Jean-Francois Leguionie and will also include Andres G. Schaer’s Snowflake, the White Gorilla.

The program, pulled together by Mario Sesti, one of the founders of the Rome Film Festival who also heads Sicily’s Taormina Film Fest, will also include a four-class course for aspiring film critics, in Italian, called "Outstanding Cinematography, Fine Performances: How to Become a Film Critic in a Few Hours."

The Cinema al MAXII initiative, run under the auspices of the Rome Film Festival’s parent organization, is held at Rome’s MAXXI museum of 21st Century Art, which is home to the Rome Fest’s well-regarded CineMAXXI section for trend-setting cinema.